System and method for automated third party verification

ABSTRACT

A system and method for performing independent third party verification utilizes an automated system for posing questions to a customer and for recording and analyzing the customer&#39;s responses to those questions. The system could include a voice synthesizer or an audio player for posing oral questions to a customer. The system could also include voice recognition capabilities to analyze a customer&#39;s oral responses to questions. The system could also be provided with the capability to analyze a series of customer responses and to create an automated score to confirm or deny the verification process. The system could further include a live operator interface to allow a live operator to quickly review only the customer&#39;s responses to a series of verification questions. The live operator&#39;s analysis of the customer responses could be compared to the automated analysis as a further check on the verification process. Preferred embodiments would also include the means to access customer responses based on customer-specific information.

PRIORITY STATEMENT

[0001] This is a continuation application which claims priority from theearlier filed non-provisional application Ser. No. 09/176,929 filed Oct.23, 1998.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The invention relates to third party verification services. Suchservices can be used, among other things, to confirm a customer's intentto buy a product or service.

[0004] 2. Background of the Related Art

[0005] There are many instances when a vendor of goods and services mustobtain independent third party verification of a customer's intent topurchase goods and services, and/or that the customer is empowered toenter into the transaction. One common example is where a customeragrees to switch from one long distance telephone service provider toanother. Under current FCC regulations, a long distance telephoneservice provider who convinces a customer to switch must obtain proofthat the customer is authorized to make the switch, and that thecustomer desires the switch. One common way of obtaining this proof isto obtain independent third party verification of the customer's intentand authorization to make the switch.

[0006] Currently, several companies provide the independent third partyverification service to the seller's of goods and services. Typically,the independent verification service provider will employ many livetelephone operators who perform the verification process. A descriptionof how a typical independent verification process works, in connectionwith a switch of long distance telephone service providers, is providedbelow.

[0007] To begin, a sales agent of a long distance telephone serviceprovider will call a customer who is currently using a different longdistance service provider, and the sales agent will attempt to convincethe customer to switch service providers. If the sales agent issuccessful, the sales agent will then pass the customer off to a liveoperator at the independent third party verification service. In someinstances, the sales agent may provide the live operator at theindependent verification service with some customer-specificinformation, such as the customer's telephone number, name, address andsocial security number. The sales agent will then terminate hisconnection with the customer and with the independent verificationservice.

[0008] The live operator at the independent verification service willthen ask the customer a series of questions to verify that the customerdesires to make the switch to a new service provider, that the customeris empowered to make the switch, and in some instances, to verify thatthe customer understands the terms of the new service agreement. Thecustomer's oral responses to the operator's questions are recorded toprovide proof that the customer authorized the switch to the newtelephone service provider.

[0009] The independent third party verification service is relativelyexpensive for the telephone service providers. The high cost of theindependent verification service is due to the need to pay a significantnumber of live operators to perform the service, thus ensuring thatenough live operators are standing by to handle all the verificationneeds for the sales agents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] It is an object of the present invention to provide anindependent third party verification service which is less expensivethan a system using live operators for customer interaction.

[0011] It is also an object of the present invention to provide a systemand method which achieves a high degree of accuracy in performing theindependent verification process.

[0012] It is a further object of the present invention to provideautomated remote access to recorded customer responses.

[0013] In a system and method embodying the present invention, after asales agent sells goods or services to a customer, the sales agent willengage an automated independent verification service. The automatedsystem is used to pose one or more questions to a customer, and toautomatically record the customer's responses to those questions. Theautomated system can use a voice synthesizer or pre-recorded sounds tocreate appropriate questions. The customer's responses can be oralresponses, and voice recognition software can be used to analyze andinterpret the oral responses. During or after the customer questioningprocess, the system can create an automated score of customer responseswhich provides an indication of whether the customer has agreed topurchase the goods and services, and possibly whether the customer isauthorized to enter into the transaction.

[0014] With an automated system embodying the present invention, a largenumber of automated customer verification calls can be conducted withoutthe need for live operator intervention. If it is desirable, to increasethe accuracy of the verification process, the recorded customerresponses can be reviewed by a live operator to verify that theautomated score (indicating the customer's intent and authorization) isaccurate.

[0015] Because the customer interaction is completely automated, thelive operator can conduct a review of customer responses at any time. Alarge number of customer responses can be stored in a memory device ofthe system, and all the responses can be reviewed at one time tomaximize the effectiveness of the live operator's review time. Also,because the live operator need only review the customer responses to thequestions posed by the system, and not the questions, the amount of timerequired for the live operator to review customer responses isminimized.

[0016] After reviewing each series of customer responses, the liveoperator can generate an operator score, which is also indicative of thecustomer's intent and/or authorization to purchase goods and services.The system could then automatically compare the operator's score to theautomated score as a second check of the automated score. This serves toincrease the accuracy of the verification process.

[0017] Because a live operator need only review the customer responsesto questions posed by the automated system, and because there is no deadtime between verification calls, the amount of live operator timerequired to perform the verification process is greatly reduced comparedto prior art independent verification services. This helps to reduce thecost of the independent verification service. In addition, because theoperator's score of the customer responses can be compared to anautomated score created by the system, the accuracy of the independentverification process is increased.

[0018] Additional advantages, objects, and features of the inventionwill be set forth in part in the description which follows and in partwill become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art uponexamination of the following, or may be learned from practice of theinvention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realizedand attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] A detailed description of a system and method embodying theinvention will be provided in conjunction with the following drawingfigures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements, andwherein:

[0020]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the relationships between asales agent, a customer and an independent verification service;

[0021]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an automated independent verificationsystem embodying the invention;

[0022]FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing steps of a method embodying theinvention; and

[0023]FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing steps of another method embodyingthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] As shown in FIG. 1, the end customer 20 is typically connected toa sales agent 26 through a communications network 22. The communicationsnetwork could be a telephone system, a computer network, a worldwidecomputer network such as the internet, or a radio communications system.Thus, the communications network 22 may enable communications betweenthe end customer 20 and the sales agent 26 via telephone lines, computerdata lines, or radio frequency transmissions.

[0025] An independent third party verification system 24 could also beconnected to the end customer 20 and the sales agent 26 through thecommunications network 22. A telephone line, computer data link, orradio frequency transmissions would also connect the third partyverification system 24 to the communications network 22. Alternatively,the independent third party verification system 24 could be connected tothe end customer 20, and/or the sales agent 26 via separate dataconnection lines 36 and 28, respectively.

[0026] In the system shown in FIG. 1, a sales agent would firstcommunicate with the end customer to attempt to convince the customer topurchase goods or services. If the sales agent is successful, the salesagent could then engage the third party verification system 24 so thatthe sales agent 26, the end customer 20 and the third party verificationsystem 24 can all communicate with one another simultaneously. After thesales agent 26 has introduced the third party verification system 24,the sales agent would be disconnected, so that only the end customer 20is in communication with the third party verification system 24. Thethird party verification system would then conduct an automatedinterrogation of the customer, and the customer's responses to questionswould be recorded and analyzed by the third party verification system24.

[0027] A block diagram of a system embodying the invention is shown inFIG. 2. In this system, a processor 40 communicates with and coordinatesthe actions of the other elements of the system. The system couldinclude a telephone interface 42 and/or a communications networkinterface 44. The telephone interface 42 would be used to communicatewith a typical telephone system, and would enable the processor toinitiate, control and terminate telephone calls. The communicationsnetwork interface 44 could be used to communicate with sales agents orcustomers via any other type of communications medium, such as localarea computer networks (LANs), wide area computer network (WANs), globalcomputer networks such as the internet, or any type of radiocommunications system.

[0028] The system could also include a speech synthesizer 48 and/or anaudio player 46. Either the speech synthesizer 48 or the audio player 46would be used to generate and/or play questions to be posed to acustomer. The audio player 46 or speech synthesizer 48 could also beused to generate questions posed to a sales agent that are designed toelicit customer-specific information which can be used in an independentverification process.

[0029] The system could also include a voice recognition unit 50 that iscapable of analyzing and interpreting oral responses given by acustomer. The voice recognition unit 50 could also be used to analyzeand interpret oral responses given by a sales agent that communicatecustomer-specific information to the system. The voice recognition unit50 could also include an answer analysis unit, or a separate answeranalysis unit 52 could be linked to the voice recognition unit 50. Theanswer analysis unit 52 would analyze customer responses, or responsesfrom a sales agent. In the case of customer responses, the answeranalysis unit 52 could create an automated score indicative of acustomer's intent and/or authorization to purchase goods and services.

[0030] If a customer responds to questions by pressing buttons on atelephone keypad, the answer analysis unit 52 and/or the the processor40 could be configured to interpret the dual tone multiple frequency(DTMF) sounds generated by the customer's telephone so that the systemknows how the customer is responding.

[0031] If a customer responds to questions by inputting data or making aselection using a graphical pointing device of the customer's computer,the system would be configured to interpret computer data transmitted tothe verification system from the customer's computer.

[0032] The system would include a recording device 54 for recordingcustomer-specific information, customer responses to questions, andpossibly the questions posed to a customer. Any type of data recordingdevice could be used for this purpose. Although magnetic and opticaltapes and disks, and various types of semiconductor memory devices suchas EEPROMs and flash memories could be used, the inventors anticipatethat other storage mediums may be developed in the future. Such otherstorage mediums could also be used as the recording device 54 of asystem embodying the invention.

[0033] The system could further include a live operator interface 56which allows a live operator to review customer responses, sales agentresponses, and possibly the questions posed to customers. The liveoperator interface could also include the capability to create and/orrecord a live operator score of a series of customer responses. The liveoperator score would also provide an indication of a customer's intentand/or authorization to purchase goods and services.

[0034] The processor could include the capability to compare automatedscores of customer responses generated by the answer analysis unit 52 tolive operator scores generated by the live operator using the liveoperator interface 56. This comparison would act as a check on theaccuracy of the automated score created by the system, therebyincreasing the accuracy of the independent verification process.

[0035] An independent verification method embodying the invention, thatmakes use of the system shown in FIG. 2, will now be described withreference to the flow charts of FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0036] As shown in FIG. 3, at the beginning of an independentverification method, customer-specific information could be received bythe system in step 300. This is an optional step whose presence willdepend upon the verification process to be performed. In some instances,it may not be necessary to obtain customer-specific information prior toposing a series of questions to the customer. In other instances, it maybe highly desirable to transfer some customer-specific informationbetween a sales agent and the automated system. The customer-specificinformation could be used to determine what questions should be posed toa particular customer, or the customer-specific information could beincorporated into the questions posed to a customer. Also, the questionsultimately posed to a customer may be designed to elicit the samecustomer-specific information transferred from the sales agent. Thesystem could then compare the information received from the sales agentto the information provided by the customer to ensure that there is amatch.

[0037] The system would then generate at least one question and posethat question to the customer in step 302. If the system is utilizing atelephone interface with the customer, the system could use a speechsynthesizer or audio player to generate an audible question which isposed to the customer. Alternatively, if the system is communicatingwith a customer via a computer terminal interface, using some type ofdata link, the questions may appear in the form of text and/or graphicsthat appear on the customer's computer screen. If the customer'scomputer is equipped with the appropriate sound reproduction andrecording equipment, the computer interface could be used in the samemanner as a telephone interface to pose audible, spoken questions, andto capture oral customer responses.

[0038] When the customer responds to the question, the customer responsewill be recorded by the system in step 304. Also, in step 306, thecustomer's response will be analyzed by the system. If the customer'sresponse is oral, a speech recognition capability could be used toanalyze the response. Alternatively, if the customer pushes a button ona telephone keypad as a response, the analysis step could includeinterpreting the DTMF sounds produced by the customer's telephone. Instill other alternative embodiments, where the customer is interactingwith the system via a computer terminal, the analysis step could includeanalyzing text sent from the user's computer, or analyzing signals fromthe customer's computer that indicate the position of a pointing device.In any event, in preferred embodiments of the system, the step ofanalyzing a customer response, and the step of recording the customer'sresponse would be performed simultaneously.

[0039] After the customer's response has been recorded and analyzed, thesystem would determine whether the verification process is complete, orwherein additional questions should be posed in step 310. If theverification process is not complete, the method would return to step302, and another question would be generated and posed to the customer.If the verification process is complete, the method would proceed fromstep 310 to step 312, where an automated score, based on the analyses ofthe customer responses, is recorded. The call would then be terminatedin step 314.

[0040] Because the system analyzes customer responses to questions, anddoes not merely record the responses, the system can be programmed tointeract with a customer in an intelligent fashion. For instance, if thesystem is expecting an affirmative response from a customer, and insteadreceives a negative response, the system could be programmed to pose thesame question again to ensure that the customer understood the questionand intended to respond in a negative fashion. Also, the system could beprogrammed with a complex series of questions, where the response to afirst question guides what questions will then be posed to the customer.Further, at the end of the verification process, a question could beposed to determine if the customer would like to receive additionalinformation or be connected to a live operator or sales agent. Dependingon the customer response, the customer could then be provided withrecorded information or connected to an appropriate source.

[0041] All the steps of the verification process described above can beperformed by the system in an automated fashion without any need forlive operator intervention. Thus, the entire call sequence between thesystem and the customer can proceed without the need for a liveoperator. Because the system is provided with the ability to analyzecustomer responses to questions, the system can make an initialautomated determination about whether the customer has confirmed hisintent and/or authorization to purchase goods and services. A liveoperator need only become involved if it is necessary or desirable toverify that the automated analysis performed by the system is correct. Alive operator confirmation process will be described below inconjunction with the flow chart shown in FIG. 4.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 4, in a first step 400, a live operator wouldreview recorded customer responses to a series of questions. The liveoperator would analyze the customer responses in step 402 and wouldcreate and record an operator analysis of the customer's responses instep 404. The operator's analysis would be stored as an operator score.

[0043] The system could then compare the results of the operator'sanalysis to the results of the automated analysis previously performedby the system. If the operator's analysis of the customer's responsescorresponds with the automated analysis, the independent verificationwould be confirmed in step 408. Thus, no further operator interventionwould be required.

[0044] If the operator's analysis does not correspond with the automatedanalysis, the system could perform a second automated analysis in step412. The system would then compare the results of the second automatedanalysis to the results of the operator's analysis in step 414. If thesecond automated analysis still does not match the operator's analysis,the system would deny the independent verification in step 418. Thecustomer's responses could then be reviewed by a different liveoperator, or by a supervisor. If the results of the second automatedanalysis match the results of the live operator's analysis, the systemwould confirm the independent verification in step 416.

[0045] In alternative embodiments of systems and methods embodying theinvention, where the customer is connected to the automated verificationsystem via a computer terminal, the questions posed to the customercould take the form of text and graphics which are communicated to thecustomer's computer terminal in a digital format via a computer link.The text and graphics would actually pose the question to the customer,and the customer could respond to the question by either typinginformation using a terminal keypad or by pointing to and selectingvarious icons or graphical figures using a computer pointing device. Thecustomer's responses would then be communicated back to the automatedsystem via the computer link, and the computer could easily interpretthe customer response.

[0046] Also, if a customer's computer terminal has the ability to playsounds and capture oral responses, the computer could be used in muchthe same way as a telephone to provide an audio/oral link between thecustomer and the automated verification system. This audio/oral linkcould be supplemented by text and graphics that appear on the customer'scomputer screen. The automated verification system would then performthe same voice analysis as is done in the telephone based systemdescribed above.

[0047] Also, an automated system could communicate with a sales agent inthe same ways described above for the customer. This would allow thesales agent to input customer-specific information at his computer, andthis information could be automatically transferred to the verificationsystem when the sales agent passes a customer call off the verificationsystem.

[0048] An independent verification system embodying the invention wouldrecord and archive at least the customer responses to questions posed tothe customer. The customer responses could be stored in an analog audioformat, or the responses could be digitized and stored in a digitalformat. In preferred embodiments of the verification system, the systemwould be configured to provide easy access to the recorded informationso that the responses of a specific customer can be accessed andreviewed. This retrieval capability could be provided to third parties,such as the original sales agents, via a telephone or computer link tothe automated system. This would allow the vendor of goods and servicesto verify that a particular customer agreed to purchase goods andservices. The automated retrieval system could utilize customer-specificinformation to access a particular set of customer responses.

[0049] Also, the system could be configured to store both the questionsposed to the customer, and the customer's responses. This would allow anentire call sequence to be replayed. In a system configured to recordonly the customer responses, an entire call sequence could be re-createdby playing the questions posed to the customer, and then the customer'srecorded responses.

[0050] Although portions of the above description refer to independentverification of a customer's intent and/or authorization to purchasegoods and services, a system and method embodying the invention could beused to perform any type of independent third party verification. Forinstance, the system could be used to independently verify choices madeby a voter, or responses to opinion polls. Thus, a system and methodembodying the invention is not limited to simply verifying a customer'sintent to enter into a contract.

[0051] The foregoing embodiments are merely exemplary and are not to beconstrued as limiting the present invention. The present teaching can bereadily applied to other methods and other types of apparatus. Thedescription of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, andnot to limit the scope of the claims. Many alternatives, modifications,and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In theclaims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structuresdescribed herein as performing the recited function and not onlystructural equivalents but also equivalent structures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for performing independent verification,comprising: a processor; a question generating unit, connected to theprocessor, for posing questions to a customer through a communicationsmedium; a response analysis unit, connected to the processor, configuredto analyze customer responses to questions; and a recording unitconfigured to record customer responses to questions.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the question generating unit comprises a speechsynthesis unit.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the questiongenerating unit comprises an audio player for playing pre-recordedsounds.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a customer datainterface for receiving customer-specific information, wherein thequestion generating unit is configured to generate at least one questionbased on customer-specific information received through the customerdata interface.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system isconfigured to communicate with a customer over at least onecommunications medium selected from the group consisting of a telephonenetwork, a local area computer network, a wide area computer network, aworldwide computer network, and a radio communications system.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein the response analysis unit is configured tointerpret DTMF tones.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the responseanalysis unit is configured to perform voice recognition to interpretoral responses.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the system isconfigured to simultaneously record a customer's oral response andperform voice recognition on the oral response to interpret the oralresponse.
 9. The system of claim 5, wherein a customer response is givenby pressing one or more keys on a computer keyboard, and wherein theresponse analysis unit is configured to determine what keys are pressed.10. The system of claim 5, wherein a customer response is given byactivating one or more buttons of a computer graphical pointing device,and wherein the response analysis unit is configured interpret suchresponses.
 11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an operatorinterface configured to allow an operator to review recorded customerresponses.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operator interfaceallows an operator to input an operator score for a series of recordedcustomer responses.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the responseanalysis unit is configured to automatically generate an automated scorefor a series of customer responses.
 14. The system of claim 13, furthercomprising a comparing unit for comparing an operator score of a seriesof customer responses to an automated score for the series of customerresponses.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the comparing unitconfirms an independent verification if an operator score for a seriesof customer responses matches an automated score for the series ofcustomer responses.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the comparingunit flags a series of customer responses for further analysis if anoperator score for the series of customer responses does not match anautomated score for the series of customer responses.
 17. The system ofclaim 16, wherein if the comparing unit flags a series of customerresponses for further analysis, the response analysis unit re-analyzesthe series of customer responses and generates a new automated score,and wherein the comparing unit is configured to compare the newautomated score to an operator score for the series of customerresponses.
 18. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configuredto retrieve a series of customer responses that were recorded by therecording unit based on customer-specific information.
 19. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the system is configured to re-create a series ofquestions posed to a customer, and the customer's responses to thosequestions, based on information recorded by the recording unit.
 20. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to generate atranscript of questions posed to a customer and the customer's responsesto those questions based, at least in part, on information stored by therecording unit.
 21. A method of performing independent verification,comprising the steps of: a) posing a question to a customer with anautomated question generating unit; b) recording the customer's responseto the question; and c) analyzing the customer's response to thequestion with a response analysis unit.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein step (c) is performed simultaneously with step (b).
 23. Themethod of claim 21, wherein step (a) comprises generating a questionwith a voice synthesis unit.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein step(a) comprises generating a question by playing pre-recorded sounds. 25.The method of claim 21, further comprising the step of receivingcustomer-specific information prior to performing step (a), and whereinstep (a) comprises generating a question based on the receivedcustomer-specific information.
 26. The method of claim 21, wherein step(c) comprises interpreting DTMF tones.
 27. The method of claim 21,wherein step (c) comprises performing voice recognition to interpret acustomer's oral response to a question.
 28. The method of claim 21,further comprising the step of automatically generating an automatedscore of at least one customer response.
 29. The method of claim 21,further comprising the steps of: playing at least one recorded customerresponse for a live operator; and recording an operator score generatedby the live operator based on the at least one recorded customerresponse.
 30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step ofautomatically generating and recording an automated score for at leastone customer response.
 31. The method of claim 30, further comprisingthe steps of: comparing an operator score for at least one customerresponse to an automated score for the at least one customer response;confirming the independent verification if the operator scorecorresponds with the automated score; and flagging the at least onecustomer response if the operator score does not correspond with theautomated score.
 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising thesteps of: re-analyzing and automatically generating and recording a newautomated score for any flagged customer responses; and comparing anoperator score for any flagged customer responses to the new automatedscore.
 33. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of: d)determining whether to pose an additional question to the customer; ande) repeating steps (a)-(d) if the result of step (d) is to pose anadditional question.
 34. The method of claim 33, wherein thedetermination made in step (d) is based, in part, on an analysis of aprevious customer response.